Rotary base



R. J. MAZIARKA ROTARY BASE Feb.4, 1969 Sheet Filegl Oct. 6, 1966 ROTARY BASE Filed Oct. '6, 1966 Sheet United States Patent Oflice 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rotary base assembly for holding a plurality of articles including a rotatable holder tilted in a vertical plane and supported by a small weighted base having radial and horizontal extending legs which project beyond the periphery of the rotatable holder.

This invention relates generally to rotary bases and more particularly to a rotary base for supporting a plurality of card receiving holders which store ticket writing cards or the like, constructed to permit the simplified retrieval of the desired card or the like :by an operator.

In the transportation field today embossed ticket writing plates are in wide use. These plates, commonly referred to as code plates, are used with an imprinter by the ticket writer to prepare from a blank form ticket a complete destination ticket with the necessary information printed thereon. Because of the amount of destination information which needs to be selectively printed and other information which must be combined with the destination information it will be apparent that a rather large number of code plates are required for ticket writing purposes. This has presented a problem of providing an inexpensive device which will accommodate the storage of these plates and will also permit the easy retrieval thereof by the ticket writer. While devices have been provided in the past for this general purpose, for the most part they have required large space consuming cabinets or complicated expensive mechanical arrangements, and therefore have been found undesirable for their intended purpose. ,7

In accordance with the present construction, a rotary base is provided for releasably holding a plurality of plate holders each of which stores a plurality of the code plates. This base permits the operator to manually rotate the device so that the desired holder faces himself and he then selects the proper ticket plate from that column. It consists generally of a weighted base member which rests on a counter at the ticket writing location. An upwardly extending post, on the base, carries a rotatable support member which releasably holds about the periphery thereof a plurality of the card receiving holders in a generally upright position. The post is tilted somewhat from the horizontal so that the rotatable support portion rotates about an inclined axis and is constructed to be balanced in all positions to permit easy use by the operator. The inclined axis shifts the center of gravity rearwardly from the supporting base so that the entire device may be placed very close to the edge of a counter or on a very narrow counter to facilitate the use thereof and conserve space at the ticket writing location. Supporting legs extend from the base member in the same direction as the upwardly extending post is tilted to balance the rotatable support and also to further conserve counter space.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved rotary base for supporting cards or the like.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary base assembly including a stationary base member adapted to rest on a counter at the ticket writing loca- 3,425,566 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 tion having an upwardly extending post member for supporting a rotatable unit with the post being tilted somewhat so that the center of gravity of the rotatable portion of the unit is displaced from the stationary base to thereby conserve space on the counter and toalso permit the operator or ticket writer to more clearly view the tickets which are received in ticket holders space about the periphery of the rotatable unit.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire rotary base assembly;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the assembly with one of the card holders removed to expose a portion of the rotary support assembly;

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken generally along line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical section of the base shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, a rotatable base assembly 10 is seen to consist generally of a stationary cylindrical base member 12 havings legs 13 and 14 extending from one side thereof and an upwardly extending rotatable assembly 16 which supports about the periphery thereof a plurality of card or ticket receiving receptacles or holders 18. The entire base 10 is adapted to be placed on a counter or the like at the ticket writing location for easy access by the ticket writer.

Turning to a description of the construction of the present device in more detail with particular reference to FIG. 4, the base 12 is seen to be a generally truncated cylinder constructed of solid steel bar stock to lower the center of gravity of the entire assembly and thereby provide stability therefor. The legs 13 and 14 are rigidly fixed to the base 12 and extend radially therefrom in a horizontal plane, each having downturned nd portions 20. Re ceived on the ends 20 are suitable resilient feet 21 which engage the counter 23 or the like thereby providing a three point support for the device with the base 12. The legs 13 and 14 are angularly spaced slightly more than ninety degrees from one another and both extend beyond the periphery of the card holders 18 to provide not only lateral stability for the assembly 10 but also rearward stability (to the right in FIG. 4).

Extending upwardly from the base 12 is a rigid rod 24 threadedly fixed to the base as at 25. The rod 24, which supports the rotatable unit 16 is tilted rearwardly from the vertical approximately fifteen degrees so that the center of gravity 26 of the rotatable assembly 16' is disposed rearwardly of the heavy base 12. A vertical plane bisecting the angle defined by the legs 13 and 14 also includes the center of rod 24 to provide balance for the entire unit. Due to the fact that the base 12 weighs almost as much as the rotary assembly 16, the center of gravity of the entire device 10 is considerably below point 26 shown in FIG. 4, but it should be understood that it is still toward the rear of base 12 so that there is considerable resistance to any forward tilting force on the device about the forward portion 28 of the base 12.

On the upper end of the rod 24 is a handle member 29 fixed thereto which permits the assembly to be easily carried from one location to another.

Carried by the rod 24 are spaced bearings 30 and 31 which mount parallel polygonally shaped plates 34 and 35 for rotation on the rod 24.

Rigidly aligning the plates 34 and 35 in parallel spaced relationship are a plurality of elongated supports 36. Supports 36 include an elongated plate 38 having integral projections 40 and 41 received in slots 43 in the plates.

The elongated supports 36 also carry card holder supporting members 44 which are fixed to the plates 38 and extend parallel thereto. At the upper end of the supports 44 are L-shaped portions 48 having one leg 49 which serves as a tongue to be received in a suitable slot 50 in the back of the card holders 18. The lower portion of the supports 44 is turned upwardly defining a foot 53 for receiving the bottom of the card holder 18. The tongue 49 and the foot 53 rigidly but releasably hold the card holders 18 in place on the rotatable unit 16.

The card holders 18 are of conventional design and have a plurality of ticket receiving slots 65 therein, each of which receives one code plate.

In use each of the card holders 1 8 may store the code plates for one destination or one area of destinations. The ticket writer merely rotates the unit 16 so that the proper column of plates is directly in front of him in the position shown at 70 in FIG. 2. Due to the inherent balance of the present device it will remain in this position without the operator holding the rotatable unit even though it is tilted rearwardly. In addition to providing stability for the device, the angular relationship of the rotary unit 16 tilts the card holder 18 at location 70 upwardly to permit reading of any necessary material on the cards by the ticket writer. The legs 13 and 14 serve to resist lateral and rearward tilting of the assembly and the displaced center of gravity of the entire unit resists forward tilting.

I claim:

1. A rotary base assembly for holding a plurality of plates or the like, comprising: a base member adapted to rest on a horizontal support, a rotatable holder having a plurality of receiving means thereon adapted to receive plates or the like, an upwardly extending support member on said base member for supporting said rotatable holder, said base member having a width less than one half the width of said holder, said upwardly extending support member being positioned in a vertical plane so that the center of gravity of said rotatable holder is offset horizontally from said base member in a first direction, first leg means extending from said base member adapted to engage said horizontal support, and second leg means extending from said base member adapted to engage said horizontal support, said first and second leg means extending in respective directions on opposite sides of said plane and extending horizontally beyond the rotatable holder.

2. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said upwardly extending support member is displaced approximately fifteen degrees from the vertical.

3. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said first and second leg means includes two generally horizontally extending leg members having downwardly extending end portions, said leg members extending radially from said base member, and each of said leg members being an equal angular distance from said vertical plane extending in said first direction.

.4. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 3, wherein said angular distance is approximately degrees.

5. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 2, and further including handle means extending from the upper portion of said upwardly extending support member.

6. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said base member is relatively heavy and constructed of solid steel, said support member being a rod rigidly fixed to said base member, said rod being tilted from the vertical in said first direction, said rotatable holder including a pair of plates each rotatably supported on said rod, a plurality of elongated holder supports each fixed at their ends to said plates to rigidly space the plates, and means on each of said elongated supports for releasably holding a plate holder.

7. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 6, wherein said means for releasably holding plate holders includes a tongue member projecting from each of said elongated supports and having a portion thereof extending generally parallel to said elongated support, said parallel portion being adapted to be received in a complementary slot in one of said card holders, and a foot member extending from the lower end of each of said support for engaging the lower end of said one card holder.

8. A rotary base assembly as defined in claim 6, wherein said rod has a handle member fixed to the upper end thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 406,548 7/1889 Terrill. 1,029,231 6/1912 Ryan 211-56 XR 1,382,092 6/1921 Kilmer. 1,422,845 7/1922 Franks 211-163 1,801,058 4/1931 Sutcliffe 211--163 1,965,904 7/1934 Mitchell. 2,500,115 3/1950 Burlin 21l70 CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

ABRAHAM I. FRANKEL, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

